'Romy and Michelle' Goes to Two Delightful Reunions

By Jack Matthews, L.A. Times

   There are two versions of the title event in director David Mirkin's "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion." One occurs as a dream, the other as an actual event, and it is a pleasure to report that the second is as goofy and fantastic as the first.
     The urge to compare "Romy and Michelle" to other movies and characters is irresistible. It's a bit of "Clueless" mixed in with the outrageous humor of "Strictly Ballroom," its theme combines "Revenge of the Nerds" with "Thelma & Louise," and its two main characters are Beavis and Butt-head with breasts. Heh-heh. Cool.
     Adapted by Robin Schiff from her play "Ladies Room," "Romy and Michelle" is the story of two suspended-adolescent women, lifelong friends and former high school geeks-in-arms, who decide to attend their reunion at Tucson's Sagebrush High, hoping to dazzle their former tormentors with their trumped-up success as the inventors of Post-its.
     In fact, Romy (Mira Sorvino) is a clerk at a Los Angeles Jaguar dealership and Michelle (Lisa Kudrow) is an unemployed clothing designer. They're roommates, soul mates and co-dependents who still talk and think like Valley girls, and while their lights upstairs are dim, the girls are bright enough to know their classmates will still find them dull.
     *
     The dead-pan performances of Sorvino and Kudrow, who played Michelle in the original play, are perfect. Romy and Michelle are cartoon characters, but the actresses make them both real and enormously sympathetic. Kudrow plays Michelle as the picture of honest, blissful ignorance, while Sorvino adds to those qualities the melancholy of a woman carrying a teenager's torch.
     For Michelle, the whole point of going to the reunion is to have a good time, maybe sleep with someone. For Romy, there's the hope of finally catching the eye of the high school jock who never gave her a look.
     Mirkin introduces the main characters at the reunion through a series of anecdotal flashbacks that Romy and Michelle share while thumbing through the Sagebrush annual. There's Billy (Vincent Ventresca), Romy's airhead dreamboat; his snooty prom queen girlfriend Christie (Julia Campbell); super-geek Sandy Frink (Alan Cumming), who has a debilitating crush on Michelle; and Heather (Janeane Garofalo), a disheveled loner who seems to have majored in anger.
     All these characters reappear in delightfully surprising ways in both Michelle's dreamed-up reunion and the real one. Garofalo's manner finally begins to grate--she isn't given much to do other than scowl and swear--but the movie skips along too quickly for the sour notes or its many flat moments to spoil the party.
     Mirkin, a first-time director whose TV comedy writing credits include "The Tracey Ullman Show" and "The Simpsons," knew exactly what he had here and composed it like frames in a comic strip, ordering cheerful snow-cone colors for everything from the girls' childlike outfits to the decor of a Laundromat. In fact, there's a jaunty spirit to every element in the film, from Reynaldo Villalobos' photography to Mayne Berke's production design to Mona May's funky costumes to Steve Bartek's score.
     But beneath the endless silliness of the movie beats a real heart, and its theme of loyal friendship keeps propping it up every time the thin walls of the story seem about to collapse. Though "Romy and Michelle" doing Tucson doesn't take us much further than Beavis and Butt-head doing America, the ride, and the company, are a lot more fun.

Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, 1997. R for language. A Laurence Mark production, released by Touchstone Pictures. Director David Mirkin. Producer Laurence Mark. Script Robin Schiff. Photography Reynaldo Villalobos. Editor David Finfer. Production design Mayne Berke. Costumes Mona May. Music Steve Bartek. Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes. Mira Sorvino as Romy. Lisa Kudrow as Michelle. Janeane Garofalo as Heather. Alan Cumming as Sandy. Vincent Ventresca as Billy. Julia Campbell as Christie.

Touchstone Pictures, 1997

Starring Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, and Janeane Garofalo

Directed by David Mirkin

GeekCulture:

Romy and Michelle are best friends. They’ve been best friends since high school in Tuscan Arizona, and now they live in LA. They have relatively normal lives; Romy works as a receptionist, and Michelle is looking for work. They don’t have much money, they aren’t married, they don’t have kids, but they do like to dress up to go out, and have fun.

Romy finds out their high school is having a 10th year reunion and the two of them make plans to go. They want to appear more successful than they really are. We are shown flashbacks of their high school days, where they were tormented by the “A” crowd. Romy was chubby and Michelle had a back brace, but they had good times together. They make it to the reunion armed with a fake success story and business women’s outfits only to find out they are already successful by just being themselves.

You are probably wondering why this movie has any Geek Appeal. At Romy and Michelle’s high school, there was a geeky crowd who were involved in such activities as the Science Fair and Camera Clubs. It’s a tad cliché, but really well done and funny.

There is of course the stereotypical love triangles. The big time geek guy has a huge crush on Michelle, but she really doesn’t care for him. The big time geeky girl, has a huge crush on the geeky guy, but of course he doesn’t care for her. But there are a few romantic twists, and it's a nice change to see the geeky girl get the Marlboro Man for a change.

As one might expect, at the reunion, it turns out that the annoying “A” crowd’s lives are lackluster, and that Romy and Michelle' and the Geeks are the successful ones. They are the ones who have invented stuff, amassed fortunes, and generally enjoyed their lives. But however predicable, this movie is well crafted; a nice, light, and humorous geek fantasy. The climatic threesome dance scene is truly one of the most geeky dance numbers ever choreographed. I adored Romy and Michelle, and Janeane Garofalo's performance as the geeky outcast girl is spectacular. The movie isn’t an intellectual tour-d' force, but it will make you laugh and increase your Geek Esteem!

Let's Do Some Carnage:

PLOT SYNOPSIS:

Romy and Michele are a pair of fun, sexy, and woefully underachieving young women. Romy works as a cashier, Michele is unemployed. And both are completely satisfied with their lives. That is until Romy has a run in with her weird former classmate Heather, and finds out that their 10 year reunion is coming up. Suddenly, Romy and Michele realise their lives aren't so great, and decide to spruce themselves up in time for the reunion. The reunion poses interesting situations for them...confronting old enemies and would-be lovers.

JANEANE'S CHARACTER:

"Romy & Michele's High School Reunion" gives Janeane one of her best supporting roles. As Heather Mooney, she gets to fire off insults and smartass remarks at virtually everyone else in the movie. No one is safe...especially perky Toby (played by The Practice's Manheim). Heather changed from alienated high school weirdo to (still) bitter, yet successful business woman, who invented quick burning cigarette paper for the girl on the go. Janeane's character often comes across as a cranky bitch, but the actress herself seems to be having a blast. And the audience does too.

MY REVIEW:

**1/2

I liked this movie more in last century. I've seen it a number of times, and had it on video (before someone I know somehow managed to tape nothing but static over it!) and always thought it was a cute comedy. However, I overlooked it's flaws and accepted it as a good little movie. But now the flaws seem to me to be too glaring and the loses points with me. One of the problems for me is any film that runs a mere 91 minutes and STILL feels padded and stretched out clearly doesn't have enough material to carry a motion picture. The lengthy fantasy sequence towards the end ends up pointless and feeling like filler, although it does have some funny elements.

There's very little meat on the bones of the story threads; there's no under-the-surface character development. Of course, this isn't supposed to be a Woody Allen film or anything, so maybe that's me being unfair. Still, the is rather one note from beginning to end. Another thing that bothers me is the way some of the supporting characters are stick figures (not literally). Everyone is either nice-at-heart or out right jerk offs. The Christie character and her yes-girls could have fallen out of any of a hundred genre teen comedies.  

On the upside, this IS a funny movie, more often than not, albeit in the lowbrow way. Naturally, most of the laughs come from Sorvino and Kudrow, who are perfectly cast as the airheads. Neither character is TOO moronic luckily, which would have killed any sympathetic feelings we'd have for them. Indeed, we feel more for them when we learn of their insecurities and pain that high school caused them. Their fashion sense provides some amusing material throughout, with the expected inappropriate-attire gags turning up. The flash back sequences to 80s high school allows for some funny glimpses of the younger characters, along with outdated clothing and music.

There's some very funny dialogue, and it's pretty consistent. Garofalo has a lot to work with, but the stars get more than enough good one liners too, if of a very different nature. Kudrow delivers my personal favorite line of the whole film: "Well, I hope your babies look like monkeys". 

"Romy & Michele's High School Reunion" is entertaining, but, considering it was helmed by former Simpsons' honcho David Mirkin, it's not what it could have been.

A I R H E A D  

N A T I O N

THE FLUFF OF

"ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION"

OFFERS A RALLYING CRY

TO UNDERACHIEVERS EVERYWHERE.

when they invent the 20-minute feature film, "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" may be the perfect subject for it. Fluffy pink and vinyl-shiny as its protagonists' clothes, it's a one-joke story that's better crafted than it really deserves to be. To enter it is to experience an entire universe peopled by two creatures seemingly inspired by Kelly, the airhead daughter on the sitcom "Married ... with Children." How much giddy spaciness can one movie watcher endure?

That may depend on how much you identify with the protagonists. Starring Mira Sorvino ("Mighty Aphrodite") and Lisa Kudrow ("Friends"), "Romy and Michele" is not so much a fable as a white flag for the slacker generation as it hits the big 10-year mark since high school graduation. "Ten years! Where have I been?" asks Sorvino's Romy in tones that make it clear she hasn't really been able to keep track of herself, even if her green and blue nail polish does perfectly match her outfit.

One thing Romy does know, however, is that unlike her Sagebrush High classmate Heather (Janeane Garofalo), she hasn't done anything as interesting as inventing quick-burning cigarette paper. No, since graduation, Romy has moved from Tucson to Los Angeles, along with her best friend Michele (Kudrow). The two unfocused young women now live in a fourth-floor walk-up in Venice, where they wile away the time going to clubs and watching "Pretty Woman" on video. "I can't believe that even after watching it 36 times," says Michele, "I never get tired of making fun of it."

After a chance encounter with Heather, Romy talks Michele into planning a trip to the high school reunion -- providing that the two find boyfriends and better jobs in the ensuing two weeks. This plan doesn't pan out, so the duo decide to tell people they're businesswomen, at one point asking a truck-stop waitress if the place has a "businesswoman's lunch special." Their scheme nearly dissolves when the waitress asks what business they're in. Quick on the trigger, at least for airheads, Romy and Michele decide they will tell people they invented Post-its. That turning point ignites the story's screwball dynamic, which snowballs when an argument develops over Michele's claim that "I am the Mary and you are the Rhoda."

Sitcom models aside, we learn from flashbacks that neither Romy nor Michele were the popular girls in school. Nor were they science nerds, yearbook journalists or drama club joiners. They were loners who hung out with each other. Michele spent high school in a body brace for scoliosis, while Romy battled her image as the fat girl (even though the Romy we see in flashback is plump only by Hollywood's anorexic standards). The duo also did time as the victims of a catty girl clique. So why go back at all?

With its depiction of high school as a huge pecking order organized by each person's power to reject others, "Romy and Michele" resembles a lot of other movies. And that's one reason it's emotional stakes aren't very high -- at least on the surface. What makes it interesting, despite its uneven comedy, is that it lets the audience both identify with and be appalled by its main characters. For those in their 20s who see themselves as left holding the bag while the Baby Boomers got all the postwar goodies, in real life, Kudrow and Sorvino prove that the bag's not entirely empty yet.

The actresses are playing dimwits so generic that when one says to the other, "You look really great with blonde hair and black roots" it hardly matters that, five seconds later, you can't remember which one spoke. Kudrow is doing her usual seamless shtick, fine-tuned by countless "Friends" episodes. Sorvino spends the movie trying to find her mark -- is she playing a dumb blonde or parodying one? -- but not exactly hitting it. Nonetheless, audiences know that these two successful actresses, both Ivy League grads and celeb photo-essay subjects, are in real life anything but underemployed slackers.

Likewise, Garofalo, who's carved out a career as the teen loser who grew up to be hipper than the rest of us can even hope to be. A flip through Romy and Michele's high school yearbook reveals her black-garbed character posing with her back to the camera. Garofalo's performance here is strangely lackluster, but her presence is not without measure. With such cutting-edge show-biz credits as "The Ben Stiller Show," "The Larry Sanders Show" and "Saturday Night Live" to her credit, Garofalo may damn well play the eye-rolling outsider of her generation, but in real life, she's probably the person voted most welcome at her high school reunion.

To describe any more of "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" would be to gnaw away at its fragile comic underpinnings. (The best of the humor comes from the actresses' line readings anyway.) As lightweight as it is, it's easy to feel real affection for the movie. Think of it as a sincere plea to take the Romy and Micheles of the world as successful on their own terms, embracing, as much as humanly possible, their penchant for polyester and vinyl.
April 25, 1997

Robin Dougherty is a regular contributor to Salon.

-- Salon.com

Actual locations where Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion was filmed